Post image for De-Clutter 2012 Challenge: Stop the Junk Campaign

Did you know that “Every year, 85,000,000,000 catalogs, credit card offers, and other ads are sent to households. It requires literally 100 million trees’ worth of paper, and much of it is unwanted and discarded.”? …that’s according to The Green life. I’m guilty – I’m one of those households. I still get some of those junk mail, cluttering my kitchen table and counter. My shredder works overtime and the paper [...]

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De-Clutter 2012: 5 Steps to De-Clutter Sentimental Items

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When my brothers and I graduated from college, we brought everything home to my parent’s house….30 years ago. They moved to the current house sixteen years ago and the move didn’t stop my mom from purging those old skanky things. She still has some of our old relics, scattered around her house. She’s not a hoarder, although some Scandinavians might disagree, but she’s can’t ‘let go’ of things from the [...]

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Tutorial: Skin Brightening Kiwi Mask

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Some white stuff is falling today. It’s not a blizzard but its enough to make the snow plow to come through my streets several times today. I think they were bored this winter. They were probably more excited about the snow than my daughter! But truth be told – We NEED snow in the winter to nourish the earth. Warm winters are never good for the planet or our immune [...]

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Handmade Gallery Page

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This is a quick post to tell you about a new and exciting page I want to share with you. It’s called Handmade Gallery. You know I admire handmade and there are some awesome shops that I want to feature on my blog for you to peruse when you need gifts, home decor, and eco-friendly every day items. There are bath and beatify products, jewelry, baby products, and much more. [...]

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I interrupt the “De-Clutter 2012 Challenge” to inform you, Martha Stewart called and …

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OK, so not exactly Martha the Diva herself called but the Director of Promotion and Events Marketing called me. But it might as well have been Martha herself because, C’mon, she works with M.A.R.T.H.A!!! When I got the convo (on Etsy), I thought it was SPAM. I get a ton of those. But I thought, “Just may be, this is for real.” So I answered her right away. And thank [...]

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In Protest of Censorship: SOPA and PIPA

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  Ecokaren is blocked out today January 18, 2012 to protest   proposed legislation that threatens free speech on the   internet – the Stop Internet Piracy Act (SOPA) and the   Protect IP Act (PIPA).   From personal blogs like mine to Wikipedia, and sites all over   the web are protesting to stop this dangerous legislation from   being passed.   Join and me and others and sign [...]

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De-Clutter 2012: Manage Your To-Do Lists

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De-Cluttering your life is not possible without organizing your to-do list. And the easiest way to remember them is to write them down. But when Art Fry – pictured on the left – invented “Post It Notes” using Spencer Silver’s adhesive glue (Why didn’t I think of that?) at 3M, he wasn’t thinking of using them to wall paper his walls or the computer monitor. He wanted to use it [...]

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De-Clutter 2012 Challenge: Freecycle

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Am I a slob or what? The piles didn’t look that bad separately but seeing them right next to each other makes me look like a slob! Seriously, more than 40 of you took the De-Clutter 2012 challenge. I know there are more of you who need to de-cutter. But even if you don’t sign up here, I hope you are clearing out your house and making 2012 the year [...]

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Leo Babuata’s De-Cluttering Tips

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I am the tortoise type of a de-clutterer. I go slow and steady throughout the year and purge when something becomes an eye sore. I must say, I don’t ‘collect’ anything valuable – unless you count glass jars – and I really don’t care too much for keeping old CD’s and DVD’s either. Hello, iTunes and Pandora! Technology changes too rapidly to even think about keeping any electronic gadgets longer [...]

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It’s a Challenging Week!

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It seems like January is the belt-tightening, de-cluttering, simplifying, and downsizing time of the year, even in terms of finance. But you can’t join every challenge there is. So, in addition to my own “De-Clutter 2012 Challenge“, I’ve joined two more challenges and I want to tell you about them. First is 23 Days of Frugal Living Challenge that started on January 6th. Why attempt a frugal living challenge? First, [...]

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De-Clutter 2012 Challenge

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It’s 2012 and there are enough resolution posts on the blogsphere to make my migraine become a clinical case. That’s why I am not going to make one. Resolutions never work for me, I’ll be honest, but I do make a plan to accomplish one thing every year. And when I do accomplish it, I go on to another one. This way, I don’t disappoint myself and I don’t feel [...]

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New Year’s Day Walk

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2012 greeted us with a gorgeous clear blue sky. I took a walk around my neighborhood and couldn’t resist to snap a few shots. Hope you are starting your new year on the right foot. I will be back soon to post more…just wanted to say, Happy New Year! …for now. How is 2012 treating you so far?

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Be Mindful and Enjoy the Journey in 2012

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Hope you had a magical Christmas, filled with laughter and joy. Hope you spent the weekend with loved ones and had a moment to reflect on what was important this past year. For my family, it was quiet times with just immediate family, without traveling to places near and far. It was a cozy weekend with minimal fuss with lots of great food and baked goodies to indulge ourselves with. [...]

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Final Day: 24 Days of Green Christmas Crafts – Wine Gift Bag

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We made it! It’s the final day of “24 Days of Green Christmas Crafts” series! Break out the champagne!!! … or wine, in this case. Did you have fun? Did you learn how to make new crafts? Bet you are all set for Christmas! What? You want to send me a case of wine to thank me for giving you all these nifty ideas? Awwww….don’t thank me. Thank my readers. [...]

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Day 23: 24 Days of Green Christmas – Green Gift Basket Ideas

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Christmas is in two days! We’ve covered numerous crafty ways to decorate and make gifts but what if you are not the crafting or the baking type? Or you are running out of time? No worries. Here are some green goodies that you can package in your own creative way and give as a gift basket. Disclaimer: I am including these photos as reference. I am not suggesting that you [...]

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Day 22: 24 Days of Green Christmas Crafts – Recycled Paper Bows

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I’m sure you’ve had this happened to you before. It’s almost midnight on Christmas Eve and you are tired and cranky because you were all over the world looking for that toy that  your child has been wishing for. You finally find it in the last toy store, buy it,  and you figured, you can wrap it yourself when you get home. The cookies and milk are waiting for Santa [...]

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Day 21: 24 Days of Green Christmas – Caramels as Edible Gifts

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I was going to include this Apple Cider Caramels recipe in last weekend’s baking post but I didn’t get a chance to take photos. And good thing I rushed to take these today because they were being gobbled up preeeet…ty fast. I usually make Chocolate Butterscotch Peanut Toffee as holiday gifts. But I wanted to try something different this year for an edible gift. And being that there’s apple cider (fruit) [...]

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